Japan: Aging of the Agricultural Labor Force and Its Solutions

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Japan: Aging of the Agricultural Labor Force and Its Solutions Yixuan Dong Shijiazhuang Foreign Language School Shijiazhuang, Hebei, China Japan; Aging of agricultural labor force Japan: Aging of the Agricultural Labor Force and its Solutions Chapter 1. Introduction With the population aging due to the sub-replacement fertility rate and the large-scale transfer of agricultural labour force towards the cities, Japan's agricultural labour force has large structural defects. The problem is twofold, the lack of new young people and the aging of the agricultural workforce. As a result of long-term accumulation, the disease of aging of Japanese agriculture has emerged, threatening the sustainability of Japanese agriculture and even the overall economic development. At the same time, the aging of the agricultural labour force is also causing worldwide concern. Many developed and developing countries are or will soon face the test of aging agricultural labour force. This paper takes Japan as an example to deeply discuss the causes, impact and measures taken by the government to deal with the aging of the agricultural labour force in Japan, and at the same time provide Suggestions for the impact of aging on agriculture in other countries. Chapter 2. Background Information 2.1 Overview of Japanese agriculture Japan is an island country consisting of Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu and about 3900 small islands. With a total land area of 37.78 square kilometers and a population of 125.2 [1] million, it is the ninth biggest agricultural producer in the world. J​ apanese agriculture is a ​ typical miniature agricultural structure, which realizes agricultural modernization on the basis of decentralized and small-scale peasant household management. Though Japan is a global powerhouse across many industries, the agricultural sector has been an exception. Agriculture, farming and fishing form the primary sector of economic industry [2] in Japan, but they account for only 1.2% of its national product. T​ he number of agricultural ​ operators is 1.4 million. Among them, the number of organizational entities was 36,000, and [3] the number of legal entities engaged in agricultural production was 233,400. T​ he shortage ​ of arable land and the lack of agricultural labour force are the main factors that restrict the development of Japan’s agriculture. 2.2Aging of Japan’s agricultural labour force Japan has been experiencing the issue of population aging to an unprecedented degree. More than 20 percent of Japan’s populations are over 65 years old, which becomes the highest [4] proportion in the world. U​ nder this circumstance, Japan’s agricultural labour force is also ​ aging prominently. From 1995 to 2010, the amount of labour force in the field of agriculture has dropped from 4.14 million to 2.39 million. Over the same period, the average age of this group has increased from 59.1 years old to 65.8 years old.[5] In 2010, the proportion of the backbone labour force above 60 ​ years old is as high as 72.6%. The labour force above 70 years old is 45.5%, compared with 4.8% of the labour force under 39, what is more serious is that at the peak of retirement of elderly agricultural workers, young farmers are still losing their labour.[6] From 2006 to 2010, both in ​ absolute numbers and in relative numbers, the agricultural labour force aged 70 or above has increased, while the labour force of all other age groups decreased. Specifically, in 2006, the number of backbone agricultural labour force under the age of 49 was 266,000. However, in 2010, it dropped to 210,000. The number of key agricultural workers aged 70 or above increased from 844,000 in 2006 to 870,000 in 2010, representing an increase of 21%.[7] The data shows that ​ Japan's agricultural labour force will confront a serious shortage in the future, especially lacking in young labour. Figure 1 Japan's agricultural population and the proportion of farmers 65 and older.[8] ​ Figure 2: Agriculture value added to Japan’s GDP.[9] ​ Chapter 3. The Impact of Aging Agricultural Labor Force on Japan’s Agriculture 3.1 Decline in the Quality of the Labour Force ​ ​ With the growth of age, the physical quality of the elderly labour force is declining, because they do not have the energy to efficiently complete the agricultural task of heavy physical labour. Older workers are slower to accept new knowledge, science and technology than their younger counterparts, and less able to adapt to emerging industries. New product development and technological innovation of enterprises are also affected. In the context of rapid development of science and technology, accelerated progress of knowledge and increasingly fierce competition, the aging of the labour population is more adverse to the improvement of labour productivity and economic growth. 3.2. The Negative Impact on the Insufficient Supply of Agricultural Products Aging leads to a single type of agricultural supply. Japan's disconnect between agricultural production and consumption is linked to an aging labour force. Rice was once Japan's staple food, what came with the postwar economic were but postwar economic progress brought a diversification of food composition, increased consumption of meat, eggs, refined flour and the "small variety" nature of agricultural consumption. However, due to the lack of participation of young family labour force, the backbone of agricultural labour force is mainly "two-person farming" of elderly couples and the "one-person farming" of widowed elderly people. [10] Influenced by traditional ideas, the elderly are in short of market sensitivity which ​ includes the timely information about price, tendency of the customers’ demand. They rely on the plantings of rice production than other crops, grains or vegetables. The land utilization rate was reduced, the production structure was not as fluid, the agricultural management in Japan was lifeless, and the production structure could not adapt to the change in market demand. 3.3 The Impact of High Social Security Investment on the Decrease of Investment in Agricultural Development The Japanese government’s fiscal problems have always been serious, so funding is very important. Because of the population aging, the cost of social security relationship fees increases ever year, reaching 31,532,600 million yen in 2018, which took up 33.1% of the total expenditure. The high cost of social security limits the funding available for other investments such as agriculture. In 2018, the government’s invested capital on food security was 1,028,200 million yen, just 1.1% of the total expenditure. [11] The lack of investment will ​ have a negative impact on the stable food supply, the improvement of rural environment and the sustainable development of agriculture in Japan. Chapter 4. Causes of Agricultural Aging in Japan 4.1 Overall Aging of the Society Population reproduction is the basis of labour force reproduction, agricultural labour force is inevitably limited by the total population structure. Japan's demographic situation is "Sub-replacement fertility", that is, life expectancy is longer, the population is older, and the birth rate is low. According to demographic data released in 2011, 23% of Japan's population is over 65. [12] In the long run, Japan's working-age population is small, the supply of labour is ​ tight, and the competition between agricultural and non-agricultural sectors for young and middle-aged labour is intensified. It is very difficult to improve the rural population structure. At present, in some undeveloped areas, not only is there the "empty nest" of farmers, but even whole villages lack working-age labour force. There are obstacles in the reproduction of agricultural labour force, and it is not enough to make up for the gap of successors. In order to alleviate the agricultural succession crisis, the government intends to include the young urban labour force into the agricultural reserve labour force. However, there are many practical difficulties in guiding the urban population to start business in the countryside. They have no land and lack experience. At the same time there is a learning curve to overcome. Although agricultural enterprises are their ideal agricultural channels, but there are some institutional barriers of inherit system, so the progress is slow. 4.2 The Siphon Effect of the City The urban siphon effect in Japan is remarkable. Every year, big cities like Tokyo and Osaka are attracting young labour from rural areas. Japan has experienced negative growth for nine conservative years, while the population of Tokyo has grown for 22 years continuously, with the number of migrants exceeding 100,000 for nearly four years. In many other places the number of young people has plummeted.[13] Some regions have even introduced policies to attract the return ​ of young people in order to retain agricultural labour, but with little effect. 4.3. Productivity, Low Income from the Industry In recent years, superficially, farmers' income has grown rapidly, but this is mainly due to the growth of non-agricultural income, while agricultural income growth is slow. Due to the improvement of living conditions, farmers' consumption demand has expanded. In order to meet the ever-expanding household expenses, they have to look for employment opportunities in non-agricultural industries. Low agricultural income is inseparable from small scale agricultural management. Japan has less cultivated land and more mountainous areas, and small-scale peasant economy has long dominated agriculture. Although the economic growth after World War II led to the large-scale transfer of agricultural labour force, the decentralized, small-scale agricultural management pattern has not fundamentally changed. Due to the limitation of cultivated area, the agricultural efficiency in Japan has been hovering at a low level for a long time. Low efficiency of agriculture investment slowed the increase of agricultural income which is even lower when accounting for the increase in the cost of agricultural management.
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